Rescue Mission – Day of Remembrance

T-Plus Fourteen Hours from Geodesic Jump

I had been awakened seven hours ago; Lt. Anderson had informed me that the first civilian type ships had appeared off of Picon Anchorage being escorted by one of the now identified Strikestars. The Avenger had jumped in just moments after the first batch of civilians and reported that Tauron was now evaced of all survivors; current reports put the Tauron survivor count at roughly thirty thousand. The reports also indicate that the Cylons seem to be focusing their attention on Caprica primarily; this should give us a good chance at clearing out survivors from the outer colonies. We had also been able to move the anchorage further out from Picon, allowing better defense of our current position.

The elder members of the crew are currently wearing the black armbands with Melissa’s initials on them, the M.W. is a rose red color ‘Melissa’s favorite’ in remembrance of her. The Chief was already hard at work using the Matter Fabricators, generating new replacement parts for the power cores that had been installed on the anchorage as well as creating armbands for each of the colony worlds that had been nuked within the past day. Captain Gaeta seemed to be somewhat appreciative of the Leones armband that he now adorned on his left arm; I believe his appreciativeness is due to our way of honoring those who lost their lives even if we could not retrieve their remains. Those of the crew, who did not wear an armband remembering Melissa, are now wearing an armband with the Colonial Symbol; as remembrance of the Colonies as a whole. In fact several of the civilian aids and Colonial officers who have been filtering through Medical before going to or back to the anchorage, have also asked to wear an armband after hearing what the bands represent.

Captain Gaeta had to explain to Commander Caine, why his officers were returning slightly out of uniform; after the explanation Caine had a sad smile on his face and asked that an armband for Virgon be sent over for him. Since then at least fifteen more ships have jumped in to the rendezvous coordinates, nine of them from Arialon and the other six from Sagittaron. Even with all of the cultural differences between their colonies, the people have found a common thread to bind them together and that is our remembrance of their homes, friends and family. After hearing how a group of people from outside of the known Colonies are showing their remembrance of people that they have never met, each and everyone of the survivors have turned to help each other in their times of need.

I look over the reports to see that for the past ten hours the Zeus’s Task Force has managed to rescue nearly one hundred thousand survivors from various stranded ships and colonies. Most of the survivors are ferried back to the anchorage by either Strikestars, Stealthstars or packed into Raptors for the jump. At least three times already a Battlestar has jumped back carrying survivors as well; in fact it is the Battlestar Daedalus, ‘odd running into a Daedalus out here’ that managed to bring back confirmation that the Roslin and her fleet had joined the Galactica at Ragner Anchorage; along with seven thousand survivors that had been left behind by President Roslin in order to escape from a Cylon assault force. The survivors of the gathered fleet of non-FTL ships were grateful when the Daedalus showed up right between them and the Cylons. In the process of saving the civilians the Daedalus took heavy damage to her Starboard flight-pod, she will have to spend time in dock for repairs; luckily part of the anchorage is a dry-dock facility.

Also during this entire operation, Commanders Mitchell and Caine have sent several Raptors to the various salvage yards through out the system. Thus far the Raptor Teams have returned with three decommissioned Columbia class Battlestars, five Fleet Tenders and seven Support ships of varying design. The decommissioned Battlestars are all still intact thank goodness, all they are lacking is crew; even the ammunition is still onboard and entire flight wings of Colonial Mark II Vipers to Mark VI Vipers have been stored on board. For some reason that is beyond me, the Colonials decide to store older but still usable ships and materials in salvage yards; but at least this will give us a better base for defense of the fleet.

Currently three of the Engineering Teams from the Aurora are working on repairs and upgrades to the Daedalus, the first of the Colonial ships to be equipped with Star Forces technology. So far the only modifications being made are to Power Generation, the addition of a secured networked system and the Inertial Dampeners. We have yet to get any information about the Colonial Sensor technology, but it is believed that we might have to modify those systems also. We have finished the sweep of Picon and can now confirm that all survivors have been moved to the growing fleet surrounding the anchorage.

To aid in the defense of the fleet, we have deployed multiple sledgehammers and wombats, in addition to those we have also deployed the Aurora’s DSDs ‘Defense Satellite Drones’. The perimeter has been heavily mined with Star Forces weapons in stealth mode, hopefully any Cylon assault forces that jump within range will be hit with the perimeter defenses. To add to the defenses, we are generating a null sensor field in the hopes that we have created a blind spot on the Cylon’s sensors in order to hide the survivors.

“Sir, the Zeus has just jumped in; she is escorting another twenty ships. I am confirming mostly civilian, but some are armed with rail-guns; not much else, sensors show another sixty five thousand survivors amongst this group bringing the current count to one hundred and eighty seven thousand two hundred and seventeen survivors from the civilian populace.” I look to Lt. Anderson and nod my head in response, nearly two hundred thousand people out of nearly sixty billion; not including those with the Galactica and others who have already escaped from the star system.

“Ensign Louis, open a connection to the Zeus.”

“Zeus do you read, this is Aurora?”

This is Zeus, we read you Aurora. Can you give us a count?

“Zeus, we have just over one hundred eighty seven thousand including your group. How does it look out there?”

Zeus Actual here, not good; Leones, Canceron and Libron are petty much gone. Survivors that we could find are amongst our group, but not much else and the ones we were able to rescue are going to need some serious medical attention. I am afraid that we are going to lose some of them to radiation poisoning, luckily a number of the survivors managed to get anti-radiation meds from Colonial Fleet survivors on those worlds.

“I see; please be advised we have received confirmation that President Roslin has joined the Galactica at Ragner Anchorage with nearly fifty thousand survivors. The Battlestar Daedalus took heavy damage to her Starboard flight-pod defending the remaining seven thousand who were trapped on sublight ships. Daedalus is currently docked with the Anchorage as we speak, we’re hopeful we can get her back out there within the next two hours.”

Roger that; any word on the status of Caprica? I have a number of civvies here who have family on Caprica and they want to know if we have any survivors.

“Zeus, we have roughly forty thousand civilian survivors from Caprica. The Anchorage has the names gathered thus far, but it is slow going; have your civilians contact Anchorage Populace Registration, should be able to get something from them.”

At least it is something; I see that you have managed to find another fifteen Colonial Fleet ships. Can I ask from where and who is in command?

“Sorry, but they are all from salvage yards; but they are intact and fully loaded with supplies, just need crew. I am hoping that we can get some of the Task Force’s Command Officers to take command of the recent additions and ask for volunteers from the civilians.”

Good thinking Aurora; perhaps we can get a second task force up and running for the Aurora to command. We would be better off with two fleet task forces; it will give us better odds in the long run. Can you give me the status of the Anchorage; is she ready to jump out of the system?

“The Anchorage as of this time is ready for jump, just need to gather as many survivors as we can before we join up with Galactica.”

At least we have that, I hate to say this but it might be time to cut our losses here; I don’t think we will get many more survivors from the wreckage we have come across out there. The only thing we can hope for now is if we find some Agro-ships still intact, so we can at least feed the survivors.

“No need for that, we sent the Renegade and the Worker to retrieve the Agro-ship that was left behind by Roslin. Her captain reported that a skeleton crew was on board, but she has enough food stock onboard to feed around five hundred thousand people for six months. They were making a run to the penal colony to re-supply them with food and water; it was apart of the scheduled five year supply run.”

Roslin’s loss is our gain; thank the gods the Daedalus managed to save them, this will definitely make our lives easier. I have to ask, the Renegade and the Worker; who are they I can’t say that I am familiar with those ships.

“The Worker is a Fleet Tender that was working near one of the salvage yards and her partner the Renegade is a Defenstar. They responded to an emergency signal from the Olympus and Clouds Eleven and Twelve, the three civilian ships lost connection with the colony they were heading to; when the communications between Colonies went out, they called for help. One of Valkyrie’s Raptors came across them and brought them back here, we have a lot of people who are still happy to see them.”

I can imagine, both Clouds Eleven and Twelve are major tourist attractions and the Olympus is a city unto itself. With those three in the fleet, we will have a happier populace to deal with; and more important is that those three can and do carry animals from the Colonies.

“Okay, if you can have the Zeus position herself for defense of the Anchorage; we can begin discussion on the fleet’s course to join up with Galactica and her fleet.”

Good idea, I will bring the Zeus into position; how much longer do you think it might be Commander?

“Based off the decline of inbound ships to the rendezvous, I would venture a guess at three hours before all ships are back with the fleet. I have already sent an Anchorage Raptor to Ragner to contact Galactica and to get us a status report from her fleet.”

This isn’t your first barbeque is it?

“No, and I hate to say this but this is an easier one than at the Regina System back home. Had to get over two million civilians out of the system before we lost Regina VI.”

I will have to get the story later, but so far it seems that my assumptions about you were wrong from the start. I can see now why both Commanders Mitchell and Caine trust you, you are a career military officer; you know the job and how to get it done. Thank You for helping us.

“No need for thanks and the job isn’t done yet; still need to get the fleet out of the star system and to the Galactica before I can consider half of the job complete.” Before I could continue Lt. Anderson, “Sir, Raptor A0355 has returned.” “Ensign Louis, connect us with Raptor A0355”

“Zeus, the Raptor is back; we are connecting now.”

“This is Raptor 355, Ragner is crawling; repeat Raptor 355, Ragner is crawling with Cylons. Galactica’s gone; we watched them jump out with a fleet of civvie ships, we weren’t able to reach them; couldn’t take the chance the Cylons would hear us. By the gods Galactica really held out, they took on two basestars and keep them back; we have the battle recorded with the gun camera.”

“Confirmed Raptor 355, come back to barn; Aurora out.”

“Confirmed Aurora, Raptor 355 coming home.”

Commander I think we better get ready for some company, with the Cylons don’t know when they will come back here to check on Picon.

“Agreed, I will get on Fleet Wide and have the ships prepare themselves for rapid deployment and evac.” I turn to Ensign Louis, “Ensign put me on Fleet-wide, Attention all ships; our scout has returned from Ragner Anchorage. The Galactica has jumped out of the system and the Cylons now control Ragner, all ships prepare yourselves for rapid evac; I repeat all ships prepare yourselves for rapid evac, that is all.”

During the next few hours we were lucky, no Cylons had detected us yet but I know full well things can change in a heart beat. So now we are talking over the comm. link about our course to join up with others and hopefully find the Galactica.

“Commanders, I believe that our first step is to jump to a nearby system; preferably one that is mostly debris would make it difficult for the Cylons to attack us and give us some resources to work with.”

“I agree with your suggestion, but how long will we stay in the system for; can’t stay to long with the Cylons behind us.”

Commander Caine, the amount of time will be based on how strongly we can defend the system. I am certain with the Aurora and my Zeus; we will be able to hold the system for at least two weeks.

“Commanders, I have been looking over the manuals from the Raptors on board Aurora. The manuals clearly say that any and all intersystem jumps, the Colonial ship must jump into the system. Now then, I am suggesting that we jump to a nearby system; not and I repeat not into a nearby system, we actually park the fleet outside of the Oort cloud. If I am right Galactica will be doing the same thing, and they will be following a course that will take them away from Cylon space.”

“Excellent idea Commander and knowing that old dog Adama he will do just that; he and I both served during the First Cylon War.”

Well, based off that idea our target would put us into the Promar Sector; but the problem is that is beyond the Red Line, It would make the best choice thou for a fleeing fleet to go, and the Galactica has the advantage of having been to that sector at least once just after the last war. After we jump, I suggest that we re-assign the Colonial Fleet ships into two new task forces; one for Aurora and the other for Zeus.

“Interesting idea Commander Walters, but why have the Aurora lead one of the new task forces and not one of the other ships?”

Simple, the Aurora has already proven to be far more experienced in this field and with the Jump Drive now installed on board, she has the ability to jump with us.

“Be that as it may, we should focus on getting the fleet to Promar and we should do it quickly; we don’t want to be caught by a Cylon assault force.”

Agreed, should take the Anchorage what twenty minutes to plot the jump?

“Actually, we already plotted the jump; only it is multiple plotted jumps to different systems. I wanted us to be ready to go at a moments notice, and now that we have decide on Promar; all that is left is to distribute the jump coordinates.”

Good to hear, Aurora how long will it take you to have all stations ready for jump?

“The Aurora has been ready since our initial jump that put us nearly a light hour out from Armistice. While a ship is out of dock, even when planet side; all stations are kept at active status for combat and transit, never know when you need to move.”

“Good practice to have; if you can please Commander Phoenix; give the order for all ships to jump.”

“With pleasure,” A quick look to Ensign Corman who had just relieved Ensign Louis, “Attention all ships, at this time you will be receiving jump coordinates from the Anchorage. Input them correctly into your navigational and jump computers, we will be jumping in sequence out of the star system. The Zeus and our Strikestars will jump first, followed by the Anchorage and the civilian ships; after which all remaining ships will begin their jumps to rendezvous with the fleet. The Aurora will be the last to jump; begin jump prep, we will begin jumping within five minutes; that is all.”

As we prepare for our second jump, I couldn’t help but wonder ‘did we miss-jump to here on accident?’ I look on for just a moment and then open a comm. link to the deck, “Chief, uh?” “Sir, she is already on her way; you know she is just like her sister.” “Thanks Chief.” Closing the comm. link I turn just in time to see Captain Gaeta with Lt. Gaeta and Amanda walk onto the Bridge, ‘am I spoiling Amanda with this treatment?’ I let out an audible sigh, and signal for all three of them to take a seat; this time the secondary command console has been set to liaison mode with a second chair added to the XOs station.

“Sir, the Zeus and the Strikestars are now jumping.” Lt. Anderson announced, while we watched the ships begin to disappear in flashes of light. It was quite a sight to behold, as the fleet started to jump away; the Anchorage jumped next and both Colonials on the bridge were awed by the large station jumping away with the rest of the fleet. As we waited for the civilian ships to complete the jump sequence, I gave Lt. Anderson the signal to order our DSDs home and to retrieve the wombats and sledgehammers that were deployed.

The Aurora was jumping last to not only cover the rest of the fleet, but to deploy a gravity bomb. I had decided to leave the Cylons a going away present in the form of an artificial black hole, especially since we had detected them massing just two light minutes out. I had Lt. Anderson transmitting false sensor data to trick the Cylons into attacking a fleet that was in reality no longer present. “Sir, Cylons are preparing to attack; one minute to jump sequence is complete for the fleet save Aurora.” Our liaison officers looked at me for a moment, wondering why we had not mentioned that we had detected the Cylons. “Lt. Anderson is our gift for the Cylons ready?” “Yes Sir, they won’t know what hit them; the G Bomb is ready for deployment.”

“Commander, what is a G Bomb?” I looked at Captain Gaeta, “It is short for Gravity Bomb, or easier still an Artificial Black Hole generator.” Once again both liaison officers looked at me, only this time it was in fear; the fact that I had just mentioned to them that we have a weapon capable of generating a black hole is a freighting concept. It is even more so since the technology was adapted from captured Ori technology, the very same technology that was used to destroy Regina VI.

“Sir, all ships have completed the jump; we’re the last ones, deploying sensor mask and G Bomb now.” The HUD displayed the now floating weapon and the sensor mask creating the false readouts for the Cylons to attempt to attack. “Okay, Dr. Myers please initiate jump.” The energy build was much shorter this time and there was almost no pain as we jumped and as the light faded, we were able to see the fleet just ahead of us. “Ensign Corman, let the Anchorage and the Zeus know we have completed the jump.” “Yes Sir, transmitting to Anchorage and Zeus now.”

The only thing that could be missing now was the chance to see the look on the Cylons faces when they realize that they had walked into a black hole. Officially the Bridge crew has been on shift for the past eighteen some odd hours, and like it or not it was time for some down time. “Okay, XO it time for the Night Watch to take over; we all need some time to relax and get some rest.” “Yes Sir, alright you heard the Commander; Night Watch you’re on shift, all other Bridge crew dismissed.”

As we began to file out of the Bridge, “Okay, who is up for a poker game?” “You can count me in Commander, besides you still have some of my hard earn money that I want to get back.” Of course Lt. Anderson is always up for a chance to get his money back from me, and then of course Charlie always joins in for the chance to make fun of Lt. Anderson. “Yep, this is going to be fun; you always lose Anderson; I wonder how you have any money left at all?” “Try me Polk, just try me.” I look to Captain and Lt. Gaeta, “Care to join us? It is a good way to unwind after a hard day.” They look at each other for a moment before agreeing to join us, both Lt. Anderson and Charlie smiled at their choice to join us; yep fresh meat is their thought.

“Amanda, what about you, do you want to join us for a game of poker?” “I don’t know Big Brother; I don’t know how to play poker.” Charlie and Lt. Anderson both jumped at that, “What, than you have got to join us, we will even teach you.” Yea, those two probably just want to see if Amanda is as good as Melissa was at bluffing our rears off.

Amanda quickly agreed after that, knowing my luck Amanda will have the same bluffing skills as her sister. As we adjourn to my quarters for the poker game, I give the Chief a call to tell him about the poker game and to see if he will bring up something from the mess.

A few minutes after reaching my quarters and setting up the poker table, the Chief manages to join us with a tray of snacks from the mess hall. “Thanks Chief, so you in for the usual or going bold tonight?” “Commander, I feel like going bold; I’m putting in my Fabricator rations for the week.” “You are going bold Chief, normally you only bet that moonshine of yours, but a weeks worth of Fabricator rations; very bold.” Charlie was drooling over that pot, and over course Lt. Anderson sweetens it by adding his fabricator rations as well; probably didn’t want to risk his money again. I told Amanda and the Gaetas that they didn’t have to put anything into the pot for this game, while I put ‘Lt. Andersons’ money into the pot.

As I started dealing, Captain Gaeta “What is Fabricator Rations?” “The fabricators create all forms of matter; a basic example is the food we’re eating right now, this is all fabricated matter. The fabricators take energy from the buffer unit and arrange it in such a way that it forms into matter; there are limitations to the types of matter we can fabricate, the more complex it is the more energy it needs but there are some items that we need resource matter to use as a base, because the matter is too complex for the buffer to contain the necessary energy.”

They both looked awed by my explanation about the fabricators, more than likely another technology that they have yet to develop. But anyway during the first few hands, Charlie and Lt. Anderson seemed to be beating the rest of us with little effort. Into the fifth hand, Amanda had managed to bluff us into folding; followed by the eighth, twelfth and fourteenth hands. That was when I noticed a pattern, she was carefully choosing when to bluff us and when not to; smart girl she is as good as Melissa. The Gaetas were getting the hang of poker ‘must have a similar game in the colonies,’ but they did not show the aptitude for it like Amanda. Amanda even has the same tells as Melissa, maybe Amanda is actually a clone of Melissa, that would explain why she is so. ‘Oh dear, focus Phoenix; remember this is Amanda and no matter how beautiful she is, not good stay on the game Phoenix.’

The game progressed as it normally would and eventually we brought it to an end, after three hours of playing; it is time to get some proper sleep. Both Charlie and Lt. Anderson left sullen at their losses and the Chief seemed happy enough with his winnings. Both the Gaetas said their good nights before heading down the corridor to their quarters that left me and Amanda to clean up. I was putting away the Poker Table and Amanda was putting up the poker deck and chips, when “Big Brother, what is this?” I turn around to see her holding a photo; it was a photo of when Melissa and I had gone to the beach on the Lantean coast line.

“That was when Melissa and I had gone to the beach, while we were at Atlantis; I had wanted to surprise her, but she was the one who did most of the surprising. I had actually fallen face first into the sand during our walk on the beach; I paid to much attention to her and not enough to where I was walking. She laughed at me for a solid three minutes, she had such a beautiful laugh but I was able to turn the tables for a moment.” Amanda smiled, “Really how?” “Simple, I tackled her into the water; but that kind of back fired when she managed to sit on me. I was trapped, so I did the only thing that I could do; I tickled her and I was rewarded when she loss her balance. I was free and now I had a weapon I could use, and so I did; we chased each other around for a good twenty minutes.”

I had sat down on the couch and Amanda was standing over me, “After we finished our game of tickle tag, we just sat on the beach and watched the sunset; ended up staying there for almost four hours after the sun had gone down. You know I am wondering something?” Amanda was now standing just about a foot from me, “What is that?” “I wonder are you ticklish?” With that I launch myself at her; Amanda manages to evade me at first, but I quickly corner her in the sleeping area. “There’s no escape Amanda, it is time to find out if you are ticklish” as I approach her Amanda tries to get past me and knocks the both of us onto the bed.

We stare into each others eyes, I don’t know why but I feel the need to capture her lips; but this is Amanda, I know she is not Melissa. Somehow I feel this need and I can feel it growing stronger with each passing second as I stare into her beautiful baby blue eyes. We finally manage to break our stares, ‘My god I better sort out what is happening to me, don’t want to ruin my friendship with Amanda.’ “I’m sorry Amanda; I should have known better, I should have” “You wanted to kiss me?” I looked at Amanda for a moment, did she just say that? Amanda continued, “I only ask because, because I wanted to kiss you. I know I’m not Melissa, but I, I feel, I feel that we can be something. I hope that I’m not making you uncomfortable.”

I look into Amanda’s eyes again, perhaps it is not memories of me and Melissa but maybe, just maybe I am developing feelings for Amanda. Physically we are close enough in age, but I need to sort out my feelings before I can even consider pursuing anything with Amanda. “Amanda, can you give me sometime; you see I need to see if what I am feeling is actually feelings for you or my feelings for Melissa. I don’t want to hurt you if it turns out to be my feelings for Melissa, I hope you can understand.” By this time we are holding each other’s hands, her soft silky smooth skin just starting to callus from working on the deck. “I understand, I can see why Melissa fell in love with you; it is the same for me, you’re sweat and caring, you don’t want to hurt me with false hope or feelings. Melissa and I actually argued over which one of us could have you, I turned down every guy that asked me to be their girlfriend. I wanted you, and Melissa had you; we made up and both agreed that maybe we could even share you. Not that way, but maybe I could have sometime with you and be your girlfriend and see if I was truly in love. Then Melissa died, and as you carried her beside her friends from the ship, I decided that I needed to grow up and honor her memory. I even tried to see myself with any guy other than you, it never felt right; and each time I would end up imagining you sweeping me off my feet.”

As I looked at Amanda, I could feel every word she said; she must have been feeling this way for years. We stand up and move over to the door, “Good night Amanda, remember there is always hope” after which I kissed her on the forehead. “Good night John, I love you,” with that she left my quarters and made her way to her bunk down near the deck. I secured my door and walked over to my desk, picking up the picture of Melissa and me from the deck party, “Melissa, I think I am falling in love with Amanda. If I am, I hope that you can forgive me, my love.” After putting the picture back on my desk, I sit down and begin entry into my personal log; tomorrow is going to be a long day, hopefully we will be ready for whatever comes our way.